kcbhiw

Agreed. Take an original Miata and compare it to many of today's cars. It certainly doesn't have the styling of the majority of cars made 14 years ago. It's interesting also to look at the resale values of many of the early 90's models. If the car has been well maintained, they can fetch $6k, $7k, and even $8k. Not too shabby in my opinion.

The pricing, as basically stated previously, comes down to supply and demand....they've got it and you want it. How much are you willing to pay?

Dermen

I bet 80% of the vehicles on the roads in Alaska are trucks and SUVs. I have seen 100s of excursions, and they all drive around with 1 person in them. I really hate having to wait for an SUV to go around a corner, they have to slow down to about 5mph.

Back on topic, have you guys seen the pics of the miata coupe. I love that thing. It reminds me a lot of the RX-7.

funkdaddysmack

Thanks for all the replies.

Thankfully Mazda didn't peice together parts from different models to make the Miata chasis. That's what makes it a good car. But don't you think they kind of offset the price to design the chasis by charging an arm and a leg for them?

There are a fair ammount of Miata's up here. The past few winters, we've had only moderate ammounts of snow, so you could easily drive the Miata 10 months out of the year if you wanted to. Granted, it might not be as fun with the top up, but yet still quite possible.

Someone posted above about most of the miata buyers being older, possibly retired folks looking for a toy. I don't doubt it for a minute. A guy that I work with just bought a used one last night, and he's roughly 60ish. I can garauntee that if the prices were a lot lower, there would be MANY more young people driving them. Young people don't have a lot of money (myself included), and although I'd like a miata fun toy car, there is no way I can justify another purchase, especially when the older used ones are still $5k+. Well, at least not with two other cars

carguycw

Not necessarily. That's the point I was making with my earlier post. Young people AREN'T buying them, and recent attempts to strip them down and increase the percentage of younger buyers have not met with much success. Miatas are out of style. Younger new car buyers are not buying sports cars, they're buying pickup trucks, inexpensive SUV's and stylish compacts, roughly in that order.

Actually, one of the things that has baffled me for some time is why the Miata isn't more popular with the "import tuner" crowd. The car seems to have everything- a GREAT chassis, RWD, light weight, bulletproof reliability, a huge aftermarket, and the ability to withstand insane amounts of boost. I chalk this up to the Miata's "girl car" image (a problem that is starting to affect another great car, the Mini).

However, in the end, I don't care what other people think. I LOVE Miatas. I WILL own another one (I've owned 2). My advice to you is to buy one, join the enlightened few and laugh at the Civic-driving "import tuner" masses who wrongly believe that understeer is a necessary evil that must be tolerated.

ZoomZoomH

lmao!

this is going into my signature!

leungwingkei

Times have changed alot. Teenagers nowadays are more concerned with style and utility than actual performance of the vehicle. Ricers, anyone? I'm not saying all people are like that, but most are.

I remember when I was younger, people loved two door RWD cars. Cars like the AE86, Pontiac Fiero, Toyota MR2 were all hot in those days, as well as appealed to a larger audience, since they sold relatively cheap at that time. When automakers soon found out these cars were unprofitable, they discontinued production and replaced them with FWD cars, which people used for modifying and tuning creating the import scene we know today.

Most of these import owners are concerned with straight line speed, and thus RWD advanatge is less pronounced and appreciated.

Later factory modified versions were also based on FWD cars to first, cash in on the popularity and second, save costs to make them accessble.

These caused cheap RWD cars to be forgotten. Any ordinary teenager today would know the BMW is an awesome car, but how many would really know it's RWD? I think not too many.

Addditionally, cars that are being sold run in the vein as the Honda Element, Toyota Matrix, Pontiac Vibe, and Scion's products. Can't blame them though, since these cars are very practical with alot of space to boot which is another reason why the Miata isn't popular amongst teenagers. Teenagers have little income and can't afford a toy car, most need a car that has 4 seats and adequate trunk space, and the ability to tackle heavy snow, things that Miata don't have. Since they have income for only one car, the Miata is never bought.

I agree with carguyw that Miata's girl car image has alot to do with that also.

funkdaddysmack

I definately see your point. I'm also suprised that there import tuner world isn't more into miatas. However, it can all go back to the price thing.

You can get a newer, lower mileage, reliable, more practical, more room for a boom system, civic/gti/protege/integra/whatever compared to a miata.

What's a loaded P5 go for these days? around $18k give or take? A P5 with leather, similar 4cyl engine (yes, it's a totally different engine FS vs. BP, but same # cylinders, close total power outut), power everything, leather, cd player, sunroof, agressive body styling kit, all the good stuff of an economy car, everything that we love about our proteges... Great deal, great fun, for the price.

Now, I just went to Mazda's website, going into build a car, and just the base MSRP of the lowest end miata is $22k. No leather, no pdl, no keyless entry, I'm not sure if it has a CD player or whatever stock. ANYWAY, no options, and it's still roughly $4k more than a loaded P5. To me, that's rediculous. I think they would have made all their money back for research and design on their chassis....

But in the end, why lower your price when you're already the cheapest roadster out there, and people are willing to pay the price? It may not be right, but it IS economics.

It's actually kind of interesting to think, though, if Pontiac or whomever would build that Solstice or whatever it was. Two seater roadster with a 2.0l supercharged or turbo engine for under $20k, what would happen with the miatas.

alcoholiday

darin,

that car is sweet.

there was a 93 LE on the mazda dealer's used lot here a few months ago. but it was beaten to hell.

carguycw

If these people were really concerned with straight-line speed, they would all be driving LS-1 Camaros.

The "import tuner" trend is mainly about two things: (1) style, and (2) being part of the crowd. Performance has little to do with it. [BTW if you own a Protege, modify it for fun, but realize that it's no rocketship, this comment is not directed at you. It's aimed at the "ricer" crowd who drive Civics because it's "cool" and don't really realize how slow they really are.]

Actually, it remains to be seen if these cars hit their target market. I'm no marketing expert, but many of the recent attempts by import makers (Toyota specifically) to market "youth vehicles" have missed their target BIG TIME. The Echo was supposed to be a "youth vehicle" but the average buyer's age has been something like 55, well above the overall average for other compacts, including the Protege. But I digress.

Also, FWIW, the Detroit rumor mill says that the Pontiac Solstice is as dead as a doornail. The car is too contrary to GM's normal way of thinking- it would need its own chassis because none of the existing GM RWD platforms can be re-engineered to be small enough and light enough. With the exception of the expensive Y-body (Corvette/XLR), GM hates cars that don't share a platform with a bunch of other models because they've historically been losers on GM's overall balance sheet, even when they sell reasonably well (the 2 best examples are the Corvair and Fiero).

Darin

Thank you!



Which brings another chance to put up MORE pics of my car

woohoo!

alcoholiday

noice!!!

i have to get out to the mountains or something and take some cool shots of mine.

maybe some day i'll be blessed with enough funds for a 3-car garage and a nice miata.

stupid emotional attachment to me mustang.

funkdaddysmack

Very good points! I thought I had heard that it would use a variant of the j-body front suspension, but maybe it was just the engine. I don't remember.

ZoomZoomH

i think all these carmakers fail to realize that the majority of young people (18-24) that they are marketing these 'youth cars' to, CAN'T afford NEW CARS...

The Toyota Echo, IMO, will make GREAT used cars for teenagers, or someone looking for great fuel economy to offset their gas guzzling rotary sports car

hmm, maybe I should pick one up

kc5zom

Not necessarily, last week Autoweek had a story on the Solstice saying that a prototype was undergoing testing at the proving ground. It wasn't that different of a car from the other GM models, the concept was pieced together using other vehicles parts in something like 90 days. Lutz wants to make the new platform into a couple of other things as well. It is not definitely going into production but at under 20k the business proposition appears to be good.

On topic though, I see late model Miata's for sale all the time at around 10k. That is what I would do rather than pay the inflated price at the dealer. And they are a kick to drive, just not quite as fast as I think they should be. Still faster than a Pro though, about the same acceleration as the Mazdaspeed Pro (the Miata gets the next Mazdaspeed treatment).

funkdaddysmack

Well, i was never interested in buying a new one anyway... That would just be retarded of me having two other cars yet

Either way, they really hold their value well. Dealer around here has a '90 with 90k, looks to be in pretty good shape (haven't looked at it yet) for over $5k. Might be a good price for a miata, but compared with any other 4cyl 1990 car, and it's rediculous!